It was a very good year
It Was a Very Good Year is a song written by Ervin Drake in 1961 . It was first recorded by The Kingston Trio for their album Goin 'Places . The song became an internationally known hit in the cover version published by Frank Sinatra in 1965, which also developed into the jazz standard .
Features and genesis of the song
The song is about the love affairs that the singer had in the course of his life. In the last stanza he reflects on his age and thinks of his life, which he compares to a good wine; all his romances seem to him as sweet as a good quality wine.
One evening Drake informed a publisher friend that Bob Shane would visit him the next day because he needed a song. If he wrote the song by then, payment would be secured. Drake wrote the song in ten minutes, but used the image of wine, which stands for life, that he had been thinking about for a while.
Cover versions
Sinatra's interpretation of It Was a Very Good Year won a Grammy for best male vocal performance in 1966 , while arranger Gordon Jenkins received a Grammy for best arrangement as vocal or instrumental accompaniment. The song reached number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Sinatra's first number one hit on the Easy Listening chart.
Also Lonnie Donegan , Wes Montgomery , Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and Eddie Harris published versions of the play. Robbie Williams recorded a version for his album Swing When You're Winning , in which he sings a duet with Sinatra's original voice.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Kingston Trio - Goin 'Places Review. Retrieved June 3, 2013 .
- ^ Frank Sinatra - It Was A Very Good Year. Retrieved June 3, 2013 .
- ↑ cf. The Standards Real Book
- ↑ Will Friedwald When He Was 46 it Was a Very Good Year
- ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 547